As beautiful as your work, Ila

Organic farming on an 8 acre farm at Mangar is the lovely Ila Lumba’s passion. Mangar is a forgotten valley, so off the beaten track despite being on the Faridabad-Gurgaon Highway it contains vegetation that isn’t found in other parts of Delhi anymore as Pradip Krishen wrote in his book Trees of Delhi. What a fabulous place Laksh Farms is for preserving the old ways of farming. Looking at Ila you wouldn’t think she’s running the farm, the ecoresort, a tutoring support to local children and helping clever seamstresses to market their wares.

Here she is, in a beautifully simple khadi top tailored and designed by one of the local women looking as elegant as if she’d spent the whole morning at the spa instead of rolling out of bed at dawn milking the cows before heading out to the farmer’s market that’s on every Sunday at Jor Bagh.

Can’t you just see her wearing earrings as understated and elegant as she is?